Wireless communication systems have evolved greatly over the past few years. Current wireless communication systems are capable of transmitting and receiving broadband content such as streaming video and audio. One communication scheme used in today's wireless communication systems is time division duplex (“TDD”). TDD allows for the transmission and reception of data on a single frequency. In a TDD system, communication devices such as base stations and wireless communication devices need to be synchronized with each other. For example, because the same frequency is used for transmitting and receiving data, if a wireless communication device is transmitting while a neighboring device is trying to receive there is potential for interference between the two devices.
If one of the base stations in the TDD system loses TX/RX synchronization a stability oscillator at the base station tries to keep the base station in sync with the rest of the system. However, stability oscillators usually only allow a free-run time of hours. In other words, stability oscillators have a maximum drift rate usually measurable by hours before the base station will cause serious problems for the system. If the base station cannot be repaired within the maximum drift rate time, the base station needs to be shut down. In some instances, a repair crew might not be able to reach the base station until well after the maximum drift time of the stability oscillator.
Therefore a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above.